Andrew Macphail
by George J. Dance Canadian | ethnicity = Scottish | citizenship = British subject | education = | alma_mater = McGill University | period = | genre = | subject = | movement = | notableworks = Three Persons, The Master's Wife | spouse = Georgina Burlan | partner = | children = Jeffrey, Dorothy | relatives = | influences = | influenced = | awards = Knighthood, FRSC, Lorne Pierce Medal | signature = | website = | portaldisp = }} Sir John Andrew Macphail, Kt, MD, MRCS (November 24, 1864 – September 23, 1938) was a Canadian physician, author, professor of medicine, and soldier. "A prolific and versatile writer, Sir Andrew Macphail was one of the most influential Canadian intellectuals of his time."Damien-Claude Belanger, "John Andrew Macphail (1864-1938)," Quebec History, Marianopolis College, Web, Apr. 6, 2011. Life Macphail was born in Orwell, Prince Edward Island, on the family's newly-purchased 100-acre farm. His father was William Macphail, a schoolmaster; his mother was Catherine Moore Smith formerly of Newton, P.E.I. Macphail was educated at Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown, and then at McGill University in Montreal,, where he received his received his medical degree in 1891. "During his studies at McGill Macphail wrote reviews and articles for various newspapers, including the Montreal Gazette and the Chicago Times, and saved enough money to finance a trip around the world." He resumed his studies in England, where he became "a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians. He returned to Canada in 1892."Damien-Claude BÃ©langer, "John Andrew Macphail (1864-1938)," Quebec History, Marianopolis College, Web, Apr. 6, 2011. He married Georgina Burlan of Montreal in 1893. They had two children, Jeffrey and Dorothy. From 1893 until 1905 Macphail practised medicine and taught at the University of Bishop' College.Ian Ross Robertson, "Sir Andrew Macphail biography" (1864-1938), Encyclopedia of Literature, 8293, JRank.org, Web, Apr. 5, 2011 At Bishop's he was professor of the diseases of children. Beginning in 1895 he also served as a consulting pathologist at the city's Western and Verdun hospitals. In 1903 he became editor of the Montreal Medical Journal; "when it merged with another medical periodical eight years later to establish the Canadian Medical Association Journal, Macphail was made editor of the new monthly." He was editor of the Journal until the outbreak of World War I. He was appointed McGill's first Professor of the History of Medicine in 1907, and held that position until 1937. Macphail enlisted in World War I at the age of 50, and served at the front with a field ambulance corps for 20 months."Sir Andrew Macphail," Sir Andrew Macphail Foundation, IslandRegister.com, Web, Apr. 5, 2011. Assigned to the Sixth Field Ambulance, he "served with distinction at a number of battles including Vimy Ridge." Writing Macphail wrote The Medical Services, Volume One of the Official History of the Canadian Forces in the Great War.His volume "appeared in 1925 and, as a result of its critical view of both the minister of militia and the surgeon general, caused a major controversy in political and military circles." He wrote an essay on Canadian poet John McCrae, "An essay in character," for the 1919 edition of McCrae's In Flanders Fields And Other Poems. Macphail was also a novelist. "The vine of Sibmah: a relation of the Puritans (1906) is a romantic novel set in the Restoration period. In 1921 he published the first translation of Louis HÃ©mon's classic Maria Chapdelaine. '' '' Macphail published four one-act plays - The land (1914), The last rising (1930), Company (1936), and The new house (1937) - "none of which were performed." The Land was "a loose adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew, which MacPhail uses to critique market speculation ... class inequality, and what he saw as the disintegration of the family. His solution is a return to 'the land' and to a rural agrarian society.""The Land: A Play of Character, in One Act with Five Scenes" (1914), Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project, UOGuelph.ca, Web, Apr. 17, 2011. His 1929 book, Three persons, "is made up of extended reviews of memoirs by three figures of the First World War, including T.E. Lawrence." The reviews were "a sensation on both sides of the Atlantic. Indeed, the London Mercury labelled the book 'the most devastating review published in the last hundred years.'" Macphail was "throughout his career essentially an essayist, a literary role to which his strong personality was ideally suited." "Essays in puritanism (1905) is a series of biographical studies of literary and religious figures; Essays in politics (1909) is about contemporary political issues, particularly ... the imperial connection between Canada and Great Britain; Essays in fallacy (1910) offers lengthy polemical critiques of feminism, modern education, and modern theological trends." ''University Magazine'' Many of Macphail's essays were taken from the University Magazine, a literary journal which he founded in 1907 and (except for the four years of World War I) edited until its closing in 1920. It has been called "an outstanding Canadian quarterly." Ian Ross Robertson, "Sir Andrew Macphail" Canadian Encyclopedia (Edmonton: Hurtig, 1988), 1281. The Governor General, Earl Grey, called it "the best periodical published in Canada." Sponsored by Dalhousie, McGill and Toronto universities, its contributors included Rudyard Kipling, several cabinet ministers, and many Canadian academics and literary figures such as Stephen Leacock and Marjorie Pickthall."S.E.D. Shortt, "Sir Andrew Macphail: physician, philosopher, founding editor of CMAJ," CMA Journal, Vol. 118 (February 4, 1978), 326, Web, Apr. 5, 2011. ''The Master's Wife'' Macphail's book The Master's Wife was published posthumously, in 1939. It is the book to which Macphail "devoted most care, and which he considered his best." Part biography of himself and his family ("The Master" was his father), part history of their community, Orwell, the book has been called "an excellent description of 19th century life on P.E.I., a very important social history of P.E.I.'s past." A facsimile of the 1939 edition is sold by the University of Prince Edward Island's Institute of Island Studies, with all profits going to the Sir Andrew Macphail Foundation."The Master's Wife by Sir Andrew Macphail," Institute of Island Studies, Web, Apr. 5, 2011. Recognition Macphail was "knighted for his literary and military work" in January 1918.Ian Ross Robertson, "http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0005015," Canadian Encyclopedia (Edmonton: Hurtig, 1988), 1281. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from McGill. He received the Quebec government prize for literature in 1928. Macphail was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1910. In 1930, the Society awarded him its Lorne Pierce Medal. The Sir Andrew Macphail Foundaton preserves his birthplace and its 140-acre property in Orwell as a museum, the Sir Andrew Macphail Homestead."Welcome to the Sir Andrew Macphail Foundation," Sir Andrew Macphail Foundation, Island Register.com, Web, Apr. 5, 2011. It is the site of the Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project, a joint effort of the Foundation and the Environmental Coalition of Prince Edward Island to preserve the old-growth Acadian Forest covering much of the property.About Us, Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project, Web, Apr. 5, 2011. Publications Non-fiction * Essays in Politics. London & New York: Longman's Green, 1903.Search results: Andrew Macphail, Open Library, Web, May 9, 2011. * Essays in Puritanism. London: T.F. Unwin, 1905. * Essays in Fallacy. New York: Longmans Green, 1910. * The Book of Sorrow. London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1916. * The Cavendish Lecture on a Day's Work. London: Lancet, 1917. * Official History of the Canadian Forces in the Great War 1914-1919: The Medical Services. Ottawa: Acland, 1925. * An Address on American Methods in Medical Education. London: British Medical Association, 1927. * Three Persons. 1928. * The Bible in Scotland. London: J. Murray, 1931. * Our Canadian Speech. Montreal: La Patrie, 1935. *''Greek Medicine'' (pamphlet). 1936. Fiction and drama * The Vine of Sibmah: A Relation of the Puritans. New York: Macmillan, 1906. * The Land. 1914. * The Last rising. 1930. * Company. 1936. * The new house. 1937. Translated *Louis Hemon, Maria Chapdelaine: A romance of French Canada. Montreal: A.T. Chapman; Toronto: Oxford University Press; London & New York: John Lane, 1921. References * Ian Ross Robertson, ''Sir Andrew Macphail: The Life and Legacy of a Canadian Man of Letters (Montreal McGill-Queen's, 2008). ISBN 9780773534193 Notes External links ;Books * ;About * Sir Andrew Macphail in The Canadian Encyclopedia Category:1864 births Category:1938 deaths Category:Anglophone Quebec people Category:Canadian essayists Category:Canadian knights Category:Canadian people of Scottish descent Category:Canadian physicians Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Category:McGill University alumni Category:McGill University faculty Category:National Historic Persons of Canada Category:People from Queens County, Prince Edward Island Category:Writers from Prince Edward Island Category:George Dance articles Category:Canadian magazine editors